Friday, 22 November 2013

Pentacle - Ancient Death

PENTACLE - Ancient Death (DAMNATION Records - CD 2001)

In my honest opinion Pentacle is still one of
the most underrated European death metal bands ever. They’re kind of band,
which obviously has a legion of dedicated fans, but considering the quality of
their music and also how long they’ve been active it would feel more
appropriate to me if they have gained more attention and their status would be close
to Asphyx at least. Anyway, I just have a feeling that only a group of dedicated
underground death metal maniacs really appreciate them. Hmm, maybe it’s because
Pentacle has only two full length LPs in their discography, most of their stuff
was limited and released by smaller, underground labels and most importantly,
Pentacle were not so active in the recent years, due to the dedication of
Wannes Gubbels to Asphyx? Who knows, but I really hope that slowly and slowly
Pentacle will start rebuilding their position on the death metal scene (which
for me they’ve never lost and always have been somewhere there on its top!).
Recently the Dutch maniacs have released couple of split 7”EPs, which I also
have, but here I would like to write some words about one of my favourite
Pentacle recordings, which is “Ancient Death” MCD from 2001. It was originally
issued by Damnation Records, but I regret that I only have the CD, while I
would really love to have it on vinyl, as all the other Pentacle stuff, which I
have in my collection, I have on vinyl… Anyway, maybe one day I will be able to
get what I want, meanwhile it is just better to enjoy this absolutely killer
and essential death metal and bang the skull when listening to some of the best
riffs ever composed by death metal band!

Yeah, I really fuckin love “Ancient Death”.
This MCD, for me, is just perfect and the content of it is very special. First
off, there are three Pentacle tracks, which are exclusive to this MCD. Then
there’s a re-recorded version of their old demo classic ("Descending of
the Soul" from "Winds of the Fall", Demo, 1993) and finally we
also get two covers… Hmm, someone would moan that covers are usually nothing
interesting. Fuck off, personally I like when bands play some classic songs in
their own versions, so I am a fan of covers. And these two covers on “Ancient
Death” are kind of special, because Pentacle didn’t chose the same stuff, which
hundreds of other bands have done, but took Mantas’ awesome classic “Legion of
Doom” (originally from 1984 demo "Death by Metal”) and Death’s “Witch of
Hell” (from "Reign of Terror" demo 1984). And that second choice is
especially worthy, as usually people would choose something more known from
band like Death (“Zombie Ritual” for example), but Pentacle went for their demo
song! And you know, with all respect to Death, but their demos sounded awful,
you can barely hear a shit there, not to mention that their skills at that time
were poor, so it is very interesting that Pentacle is giving a new life to such
song as “Witch of Hell”. Now I can listen to this song with pleasure, more so
because it never ended on any Death album. “Legion of Doom” is more known, but originally
the production on this Mantas demo was also pretty bad, so I really like that
idea to exhume and resurrect such ancient death metal songs.

But let’s start from beginning, shall we? And
first is “Prophet of Perdition”, which surely is one of my favourite Pentacle
songs ever! Awesome riffs, great vocals and truly memorable song – this is all
you should know about it. It makes awesome impression, with this feeling of
classic extreme metal, which will have a lot of similarity to the Hellhammer /
Celtic Frost, but in few moments I can even spot some Obituary, Death and
obviously also the mighty Asphyx. Perfect tune to start! Then we have "Descending
of the Soul" – and damn… I actually don’t know the original version, never
had a chance to hear any Pentacle demos, but this is just very good song. It is
kind of slower, maybe slightly more melodic, but with some vicious and ravaging
stuff as well. I only wonder how much they have improved the arrangements
comparing this version to the old demo stuff… And if you think that
“Descending…” is slightly too slow, then “Immolated in Flames” will cheer you
up, as this song sounds almost like a thrash metal classic, with these whipping
riffs and dynamics. It will keep punching you until you bleed out, trust me. “Walking
Upon Damnation's Land” is the epic song… I love these powerful, fast riffs,
that viciousness and aggression of this song and the amazing vocals, which have
been shared between Wannes and K.K. Warslut from D666. And with that memorable
chorus part it couldn’t get any better in my opinion. This, along with “Prophet
of Perdition”, is the best part of “Ancient Death”. As for the covers, they
both sound fantastic, but I especially love “Legion of Doom”, which is such a
killer and catchy death metal classic that is just impossible to resist. For me
Pentacle recorded its perfect version, really!!!!!!!! “Witch of Hell” is also
superb though… I like it also because I am not so much familiar with the
original version (this is one of the few Death songs, which never been recorded
for their albums), so it just shreds to pieces.

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What is this blog for...?

This blog is first and foremost to remind the UG metal community my work on PANZERFAUST zine, so I'll try to exhume my old interviews and reviews from that zine.

Blog is also an opportunity for me to share my thoughts on new releases, new bands... I'll publish here new reviews or interviews I've written recently, just for the pleasure of doing so and getting these things out of my mind, as I still enjoy writing about the music I love and live.Finally I'll be sharing here any others things I find interesting...